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Thursday, March 28, 2013

Gay Marriage: The Next Issue on the Republican's Recovery Plan?

“The compelling
argument is on the side of homosexuals. That’s where the compelling argument
is. ‘We’re Americans. We just want to be treated like everybody else.’ That’s a
compelling argument, and to deny that, you have got to have a very strong
argument on the other side. The argument on the other side hasn’t been able to
do anything but thump the Bible.” - Bill O'Reilly on Fox News on Tuesday

First there was
immigration, but gay marriage may be the next trending issue to be embraced by
Republicans in their initial steps towards broadening
the party's appeal. In addition to O'Reilly's quote, there are other
signs.

There is this from the Republican
Party's recent "Growth & Opportunity Project" report:

"For the GOP to appeal to younger voters,
we do not have to agree on every issue, but we do need to make sure young
people do not see the Party as totally intolerant of alternative points of
view. Already, there is a
generational difference within the conservative movement about issues involving the treatment and
the rights of gays — and for many younger voters, these issues are a gateway into whether the
Party is a place they want to be."

Then on Sunday,
there was Karl Rove saying that there "could" be a 2016 Republican
candidate who supports gay marriage.

And back in
February, "at least 75" Republicans signed a legal brief to the
Supreme Court arguing that gay marriage is not only a Constitutional right but
reinforces conservative principles: family stability, individual freedom, and
government non-intervention.

I could list more.

Granted, there is
still opposition to the issue. For one thing, the court brief's signers were a bit
short on currently elected officials. For another, in a recent survey the only
age group to show 50% or greater approval were those born after 1980. And support
of gay marriage would certainly alienate some of the GOP faithful, in
particular the religious right.

But the Republican
party can embrace - or at least tolerate - gay marriage using the same logic that the court brief uses -
it is consistent with conservative beliefs such as government non-intervention. They can also maintain respect for religious beliefs but within the context of church-state
separation, which has the Founding Fathers' seal of approval. None of this compromises GOP core principles of limited government, low taxes, and
opposition to entitlements. And,
in a point worth emphasizing in the Republican recovery plan, support of this
issue is consistent with the party's legacy of abolition and women's
suffrage.